Santoro, Anderson set for SA Open
7 January 2009
Fabrice Santoro will join some of the biggest names in tennis at this year's SA Open, to be played at Montecasino in Johannesburg from 2 to 8 February. At 36, the Frenchman is not only one of the oldest players on the ATP Tour, but also one of the most accomplished.
Nicknamed "The Magician" by Pete Sampras, Santoro will enters his twentieth year on the tour in 2009, having set an open era record by appeaing in his 65th career Grand Slam tournament in singles.
There was also good news for South Africa when the full list of players was announced by the ATP Tour in that SA number one Kevin Anderson was given a direct entry into the tournament.
Directly into the main draw
Ranked at 104, Anderson made it comfortably into the main draw and will not need a wild card from the South African Tennis Association (Sata).
The field is headlined by current world number six Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, number 12 David Ferrer of Spain, and colourful Frenchman Gael Monfils, ranked 14th.
The 2009 South African Open is the first full ATP tournament to be staged in the country since 1995, and carries prize money of R5-million.
There is hardly a player who Santoro has not beaten over his 20 years on the tour, and in 2008 he became the oldest player in the open era (since 1968) to win a singles crown and the only player over 30 during the season to accomplish that feat.
Following in Ferreira's footsteps
He enters 2009 having played in 41 straight Grand Slam events - the most among active players; the record of 56 straight appearances is held by South Africa's Wayne Ferreira.
Anderson may have lost in the second round of last year's SA Open, which was a challenger event in East London, but he went on to shine over the next few months.
He reached the final of a futures event in Texas, and two weeks later won through to the final of a full ATP Tournament in Las Vegas, where he lost to American Sam Querry.
The highlight of his year came at the Miami Masters where, after qualifying and beating Agustin Calleri in the opening round, he defeated world number three Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-4.
Looking to build on win
Anderson's year culminated with a victory in the Champaign Challenger in the US and he will be looking to build on that win in 2009.
Two players who played well in East London return to South Africa this year; Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and Portugal's Frederico Gil both went on to enjoy good form during the balance of the year.
Chardy won through to the final in Marrakech, losing in two tie-break sets to Monfils, and then went on to reach the fourth round of the French Open, beating David Nalbandian in the second round and Dimitri Tursunov a round later, before bowing out in a tight match to Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
Gil reached the semi-finals in East London and later in the year went through to the quarter-finals of the tournament in Estoril, where he lost to Roger Federer. He won challenger events in Sassuolo, Italy and Istanbul, Turkey.Major meetings
Amazingly, Gil drew Chardy in the first round of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, losing on all three occasions to the Frenchman.
"I am very excited with the full field for this tournament and I believe we will be in line for a most competitive event," said Sata chief executive Ian Smith.
"I am also delighted to see that some of the players who enjoyed our hospitality last year have decided to return for this tournament. It is always great to build up a relationship with improving players at a young age so they keep coming back as they climb the international rankings."
The full list of players and the top 10 alternates for the SA Tennis Open (includes nationality and world ranking)
- Alves, Thiago (BRA) 113
- Anderson, Kevin (RSA) 104
- Baghdatis, Marcos (CYP) 98
- Chardy, Jeremy (FRA) 75
- Ferrer, David (ESP) 12
- Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo (ESP) 62
- Gil, Frederico (POR) 110
- Granollers, Marcel (ESP) 56
- Istomin, Denis (UZB) 105
- Koellerer, Daniel (AUT) 125
- Mayer, Leonardo (ARG) 115
- Minar, Ivo (CZE) 99
- Monfils, Gael (FRA) 14
- Navarro, Ivan (ESP) 74
- Phau, Bjorn (GER) 120
- Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben (ESP) 121
- Roitman, Sergio (ARG) 118
- Santoro, Fabrice (FRA) 52
- Sela, Dudi (ISR) 112
- Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) 6
- Vanek, Jiri (CZE) 124
- Ventura, Santiago (ESP) 123
- Vliegen, Kristof (BEL) 84
Alternates
1. Greul, Simon (GER) 126; 2. Cipolla, Flavio (ITA) 127; 3. Bohli, Stephane (SUI) 128; 4. Becker, Benjamin (GER) 129; 5. Berrer, Michael (GER) 131; 6. Crivoi, Victor (ROU) 133; 7. Chiudinelli, Marco (SUI) 136; 8. Bozoljac, Ilia (SRB) 139; 9. Patience, Olivier (FRA) 141; 10. Stadler, Simon (GER) 146
Tickets
Tickets for the SA Open will be available at the Montecasino box office and from Computicket, on 083 915 8000 or (011) 340 8000, or through the Computicket website from 1 December.
COSTS
Monday: day, 1pm, R25 court one and R40 centre court
Monday: evening, 7pm, R25 court one and R40 centre court
Tuesday: day, 1pm, R25 court one and R40 centre court
Tuesday: evening, 7pm, R25 court one and R40 centre court
Wednesday: one session, 4pm, R50 court one, R75 centre court
Thursday: one session, 4pm, R50 court one, R75 centre court
Friday: quarterfinals, 4pm, R75 court one and R100 centre court
Saturday: semifinals, 1pm, R120
Sunday: final, 1pm R150, centre court
